


Magnetism

by shinaho



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Christmas, F/F, T, cute date fluff, hell yeah i love writing christmas fluff in may. its grea, kind of an au but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 02:49:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10958103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinaho/pseuds/shinaho
Summary: Moments drag on, together like that. They enjoy their crepes in a comfortable silence, and the world seems to freeze around them. The town is practically deserted, and the lights in the buildings were switched off, blanketing the sky in darkness save for the few stars not yet stolen by light pollution. The moon sits above them, large and full, breaking through the clouds and the inky black sky.





	Magnetism

The two of them sit in the dressing room, recovering from the adrenaline of their live show. The rest of μ's has left, off to do as they wish. The bright lights of the vanities shine bright in the lonely room, not nearly filled by Nico and Maki alone. There is a heavy silence between them, or at least that’s how it feels to Nico. She wishes not to address her unspoken feelings, and wants Maki to do the talking. Alas, she knows that the other girl never will. 

There’s no reason for them to be sitting in the red velvet chairs as they do now. None but the fact that they wait, they wait and wait for the other to speak. Both of their apprehension is palpable, and neither want to make the first move. 

Maki stands up, and looks down at Nico like a queen would a peasant. “If you’re not going to-“ 

Nico doesn’t want to hear the rest of her sentence. “Do you want to hang out right now?” 

Maki sighs, and her hips jut out to the side slightly. “I suppose.” Nico knows she cares much more than she lets on. Everything Maki does she seems to do ambivalently. But that’s how Maki is. 

When did Nico begin to understand Maki so well?

She shakes the question out of her head and stands up as well. Maki asks, “So, where are we going? You’d best be paying if you’re going to be the one to invite me out, after all.” And Nico pauses. She had spent her recent paychecks on food for her family, and she didn’t have much to spare, not even for a date. 

It would be disgraceful for Nico to force Maki to pay, though. A world-class idol should be able to afford whatever she wished, after all! She couldn’t make her girlfriend (is that what Maki was to her? It was more of a grey area, labels were unfitting at this stage.) Expend the cash for the date. 

“I was thinking we could just go…” Nico thinks. “Sightseeing?” She makes it up last-minute. It was a cheap copout for something expensive, but she prays to whatever higher power that might be out there that she didn’t say anything. 

Maki raised her eyebrows. “Sightseeing?” she repeats. 

“W-Well we’re in a in a big city after all! It would be a waste to just go back to the hotel and leave tomorrow without seeing the attractions!” Nico speaks fast, trying to cover for her inexperience. She ends the sentence with a sheepish laugh, and raises her hand to the back of her neck. Maki’s hands come up and cross at her side. 

“Did you even research what kind of stuff was in the area?” 

God, why was she so difficult? Did she really have to hound Nico right now? She was offering to show her around, after all! How rude! 

Nico’s hand drops. “Well, why can’t we just explore together? Besides, my phone is dead. How am I supposed to navigate?” The last part is a fib. She left her phone charging while she was onstage. 

And, just because karma’s a bitch, Nico’s phone goes off then and there. The loud ping of her phone echoes throughout the room, bouncing off of the barren walls. Nico feels the vibration in her coat pocket, too. There’s no avoiding this. She bites her lip and looks towards the ground, feeling her face heat up. 

Maki turns her head to the side and grips her face with her hand. Nico says awkwardly, “Honoka must’ve left her phone here…” there is a long pause, where Maki just shakes her head. “L-Let’s just go.” 

Maki looks back up at Nico, exasperated. “You really are insufferable, don’t you know that?” She says, and a shit-eating grin spreads across Nico’s face in favor of the shameful countenance it bore. 

“You’re the one that agreed to hang out with me.” Nico countered, starting for the exit of the dressing room. She longed to reach for Maki’s hand, but they would be outside soon. The city was populous, and μ's was beloved across Japan. For two idols to be seen holding hands would be begging for paparazzi attention. 

Not that Nico would mind it, though. She thrived for photographs. She was just looking out for Maki’s best interest, after all. 

But then, maybe a scandal would raise μ's’ popularity? She could see the headlines now: “Forbidden Love between Two Girls Breaks Though in a Heterosexual Media”! 

Maybe that was pushing it, though. 

“Is it too late to decline?” Maki jokes, or at least Nico hopes it’s a joke. 

“Of course!” Nico pouts. Her playful attitude is back after the unpleasant beginning to their date. “Besides, who wouldn’t want to spend time with the number one idol in the universe? You wound me, Maki-chan!” 

They laugh as they walk, and Maki’s giggles remind Nico of the sweet taste of bubblegum and the kick of peppermint. Maybe if they were to kiss, she’d taste like that, and Nico would be ecstatic just to get a small hint of her. 

Their laughter pauses as they’re stuck all-too-soon by the cold winter weather. They both wear skirts and tights- why, oh why must idols give up functional clothes in favor of fashionable ones?! Maki shivers slightly, and Nico is torn. Should she be chivalrous and offer her jacket? 

Hell no! It’s cold, and even if Maki is Nico’s princess who she wants to sweep off her feet, Nico really isn’t in the mood to freeze or something out here on her first date, and oh god this really is her first date isn’t it? 

Nico is incapacitated by this thought when Maki asks which way they’re heading. Her words stumble as she answers that they should head towards downtown, where the Christmas lights are set up. She doesn’t realize the implications, and neither does she notice the strong blush across Maki’s cheeks. 

Together they walk, under the cover of night, side by side. The μ's fans have long since dispersed from the end of the concert, and the road they walk is deserted save for them too. There is no paparazzi to see them, no passersby to spread rumor, so Nico gingerly reaches for Maki’s hand, as she has always wanted to. Their fingers interlock, and Maki continues to face ahead, unfazed. 

Nico’s heart pounds in her chest, relief flooding that Maki didn’t regress away from her touch. She bumps shoulders with Maki, and it might be her imagination, but Nico hears a small chuckle come from Maki as she bumps her back. They might be world-class idols, but they’re still young and innocent, untainted by sexuality and lust that many in the industry are plagued by. 

The artificial light of the streetlamps above them are the only light for what seems like eternity. They walk on, making small conversation with each other, thankful for the privacy they can share like this. Nico eventually checks her phone to see who had texted her back in the dressing room. Apparently Honoka had sent her a video of Rin trying to eat a whole pizza and subsequently failing to do so. No surprise. 

Maki watches with her, smiling at the idiocy of their friends. Well, really, μ's was more like a family. 

Eventually the vivid shine of downtown comes into view, and the pair are able to view the elaborate decorations set up for Christmastime. Without aim they wander, passing by shops and stores set up along the path. Surrounded by such skyscrapers and high-rises, they feel small and trivial. It was almost refreshing, for they are so used to being the center of attention. Nico lived for the spotlight, but sometimes being on the down-low had its perks. If she was always front and center, it wouldn’t be special anymore! 

“The lights really are pretty tonight.” Maki comments as they reach a small plaza. The largest evergreen Nico has ever seen is set up in the middle of it, adorned with tinsel and ornaments galore. Small shrubs line the area, and those too had been covered with multi-colored lights. Small benches by the shrubs were colored red and green to match. 

“Not as pretty as you.” Nico says. She just couldn’t resist. 

Maki laughs. “You’re so embarrassing!” She pushes Nico slightly, and Nico began to snicker. “What a hopeless romantic.” 

“Hopeless? I have you, you know!” 

“If I don’t leave right here! After a cheesy line like that, I wouldn’t even regret it.” Maki’s jests were always somewhat hurtful, but she never meant anything by it. Nico loved her honesty. 

“You would never! You love me too much.” Nico stands up straight and gestures to herself. “And I could get any girl I wanted, after all. I am everyone’s favorite idol!” 

“Pfft. You wish.” 

“Rude!” Only now did Nico notice how hungry she is, and looks around. There’s a small crepe stand open across the way, and suddenly she has a craving for something sweet. 

“Maki-chan!” She calls. “Make up your rudeness to me by buying crepes!” Nico demands. 

“I thought you were going to pay for this date? But I guess it can’t be helped.” She shrugs. 

There are two girls working at the stand, quietly chatting with each other. One kept her hair in two crimson pigtails, and the other had a side bun. Once Nico and Maki had approached, the blue-haired girl with the bun got up and walked to the counter. 

Nico ordered a strawberry crepe, and Maki one with mango. 

As the blue haired girl went to the back to make the crepes, the one with the red hair stayed in front to chat. She is an avid μ's fan, so of course Nico had to show off. She even offers an autograph, which the girl gratefully accepts. 

Eventually the second girl returns, and gives them their crepes. As Nico and Maki begin to walk away, she calls out, “Merry Christmas Eve!” and they turn around to see she has one arm around the red-haired girl’s waist and the other waving them off. 

“They seemed nice.” Nico comments nonchalantly once they had gotten out of earshot from the stand and sat on one of the green benches. 

“It’s past midnight.” Maki says. “Christmas Eve. A couple’s holiday.” 

“So?” Nico’s tone is harsh. “We’re a couple.” She glances back at the shop. “I’d bet they were too. Did you see that one chick’s arm snaked around the other’s waist? Talk about gay.” 

“You’re gay too, you ass.” 

“It wasn’t an insult!” 

Moments drag on, together like that. They enjoy their crepes in a comfortable silence, and the world seems to freeze around them. The town is practically deserted, and the lights in the buildings were switched off, blanketing the sky in darkness save for the few stars not yet stolen by light pollution. The moon sits above them, large and full, breaking through the clouds and the inky black sky. 

Nothing stirs, and for that short time, it seems like they are the only two in the world. And it wouldn’t be so bad if they were, Nico figures. She really only needs Maki. 

Maki keeps her grounded. Without Maki, her ego would inflate, and she wouldn’t know when to stop herself or when to take care of herself or when to do this or that. She was like a child without Maki. 

And it wasn’t as if their relationship wasn’t symbiotic. Nico helped Maki to loosen up, to live. Without Nico, Maki wouldn’t have fun as an idol, wouldn’t even be a true idol like she was. Because of Nico and her dumb jokes and silly smile, Maki started to laugh and live and love. It was pleasant. 

And then, time moved on. 

Snow begins to fall to the ground around them. When the two stand, their footprints crunch the icy grass in the plaza, and clank against the cold concrete of the sidewalk. 

They slowly make their way back to the hotel, wanting to continue the date, to go and shop or get more crepes or even just sit and talk more. But they can’t. It’s late, and they need to sleep, and their friends are probably worried, and it’s getting colder and colder by the minute, and there are a plethora of other reasons why they shouldn’t but that doesn’t interfere with their desire to. 

Their hotel is just a little farther off, and they’re well out of the city by now. The lights aren’t so harsh, and the gentle lamp illuminates Maki’s face. The road they’re on is a bridge, and if they choose to look over the railing they can see the frozen ice that was once a river flowing, but now sits calm and still to be seen now only by the two of them. Maki leans with her back against the railing, and nico faces her as she leans her arm on it. 

And soon they’re not leaning onto the railing, but into each other, and Nico feels the intoxicating taste of Maki’s lips on hers and can almost taste the mango and whipped cream from her crepe, and she wonders if Maki can taste the strawberry of her own. 

Their kiss is brief, and they soon pull away. Nico looks up above them, at the rich, full moon. 

“The moon is beautiful tonight, isn’t it?” She asks.

**Author's Note:**

> can i get uhhhh canon lesbians


End file.
